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Chombo gets passport back

Former Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo was on Tuesday given back his passport to enable him to travel to South Africa for medical attention. He will have the passport until June 13.

The former minister had applied for the release of the passport as he wanted to travel abroad. The former minister appeared before Harare magistrate Ms Victoria Mashamba for routine remand.

Chombo’s co-accused – Rejoice Pazvakavambwa, the deputy director of valuations and estate management in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, and Lazarus Chimba, the registrar of valuers – were remanded to May 16.

They applied for refusal of further remand. Through his lawyer Professor Lovemore Madhuku, Chombo notified the court of his intention to travel to South Africa on health grounds.

Chombo is facing a raft of charges ranging from corruption to abuse of office, fraud and criminal nuisance. He is accused of allocating residential stands to illegal settlers at Whitecliff Farm in Harare before demanding and receiving a bribe of a 3 712-square metre stand from the landowner to help remove them.

The land owner, Eddies Pfugari Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd, lost property worth $200 million in the process.